Hi there everyone! I was recommended this blog by the manager of the community darkroom in my city (Ottawa, Canada) as a great resource for information and knowledge. As it happens I need some.

I recently inherited from what appears to be (I have done a good amount of research) a Zone VI type 1 5x7 enlarger. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zone-VI-5x7-...d=331658603704 this is the model I have.

I have tested it throughly and it appears to be working fine, but I have had a few issues and problems that I can't seem to sort out on my own. I'm hoping to get some guidance. First off, the enlarger came with (I will take pictures if needed for the sake of specificity) a zone vi compensating timer, and a zone vi cold light stabilizer. So far, it seems I can only connect one in at a time, because the Type I enlarger only has jack on the head to plug into. It seems stabilizing the light is important, my question is: Is there any way of plugging both in simultaneously? will just running the timer which has a built in brightness control knob the same thing? should I care?

Furthermore, I am missing the lens board, and negative carriers. Again, after a good amount of research and roaming the web, it seems like both are in short supply/very hard to find. So, does anyone have any good leads on the enlarger lens boards? can they be made? same goes for the negative carriers. I have made negative carriers before from old mat boards. I have found a few negative carriers for zone vi enlargers online but the enlarger lens boards seem to not exist, especially for a type I enlarger

I am not able to get rid of this enlarger or buy a new one, so i am determined to make this one work! this will be my first home darkroom, and I will make this happen!

any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!